As I compiled these questions, I thought that it would be good to get answers from other professional jazz trombonists- I don't profess to know everything about jazz trombone, and I know that many times, others for whom I have great respect will have completely different opinions or thoughts on subjects of our mutual interest. So I've been lucky to garner the assistance of 3 pro jazz trombonists who all have been involved in discussion of jazz and the trombone on the Internet for some time. They are (alphabetically):
Jeff Adams- Trombone soloist with the U.S. Army Field Band's Jazz Ambassadors (touring big band), a former public school music teacher and current private music instructor with a Master's Degree in Music Education; a Yamaha Artist/Clinician;
Sam Burtis- N.Y.C. veteran freelancer versed in many styles of jazz, a top studio pro and currently seen with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra;
Alex Iles- a free lance and studio musician living in the Los Angeles area, performing music in a wide variety of styles. He has toured with the Maynard Ferguson and Woody Herman Orchestras and is currently a member of The Bob Florence Limited Edition. Alex also teaches low brass and jazz at the California School of the Arts and California State University, Northridge.
This list of questions will be added to as I (we) gather more of them. Please note that some of the questions may seem NOT to be specific to the trombone. This is true. But for some reason or another, I seem to hear these questions more from trombonists than other instrumentalists. I think this may be due to the fact that improvising and playing swinging jazz is a little more difficult on the trombone than on other instruments, and there are then fewer numbers of competent jazz trombonists to pass the information on to students.
If you don't believe me, I have to say that in my experience with doing clinics with and seeing concerts by "major college" jazz bands, there are usually at least 2 or 3 competent or outstanding trumpet and sax soloists, but rarely even one trombonist. That has been my experience. So I am including these basic, non-instrument-specific questions as well.
Also, you will notice that our opinions frequently agree. Sometimes, we give differing answers for approaches to a question. And we answer at different lengths. For instance, Sam Burtis' answers are usually much shorter than mine. But I'd encourage you to really think about what he says; there can be whole worlds of implications and meaning in a single sentence.
It is my hope that hearing the thoughts of 4 different trombonists, working and living in different parts of the U.S., will give the reader a nice cross-section of ideas to work with.
Finally, I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to Jeff, Sam and Alex for the time and work they put into this project.